GroupMe, OnSwipe, Gilt Groupe, and Others Prep SummerQAmp Program

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When notable members of New York’s innovation scene, a rocker from New Jersey, and a former White House insider get together it is no mere jam session. Just such a coalition—including executives from New York’s Gilt Groupe, GroupMe, and OnSwipe—has started a national initiative to train a new work force in high-tech skills.

That program, called SummerQAmp was introduced last week with a press call that included Steve Martocci, co-founder of GroupMe; Aneesh Chopra, former CTO of the White House; Kevin Haggard, vice president of quality engineering at Gilt Groupe; and Jason Baptiste, CEO of OnSwipe. These technology mavens, along with Bon Jovi front man Jon Bon Jovi, formed the nucleus for the initiative, which is largely aimed at giving a broad range of candidates—including underprivileged youths—the chance to train for jobs in software quality assurance.

The SummerQAmp program was developed in partnership with the White House’s Summer Jobs+ initiative, which shares the goal of offering job opportunities to youths from low-income and at-risk backgrounds. Quality assurance was chosen as a focal point by the coalition because its importance in ensuring apps and software work properly though the work is oftentimes outsourced overseas.

Martocci said during call that quality-assurance skills are typically learned on the job rather than in classrooms. “It is a great stepping stone into other software jobs,” he said. Such opportunities include programming and IT management.

In a separate comment to Xconomy via e-mail, Martocci added that quality assurance is an underserved part of software development and that limited resources are currently dedicated to increasing awareness in America about this career path. “We’re hoping to change that,” Martocci says. “It’s also one of those positions at a startup that you might not realize you need until it’s too late.”

GroupMe, he says, has already hosted interns who worked on quality assurance for the company and believes others in the technology community can benefit from the initiative.

Further, Martocci says this program is being launched at a time when the local innovation scene is taking off. “New York is proving to be a great alternative to Silicon Valley, and SummerQAmp internships will help create more opportunities for … Next Page »